Menu Monday

We stayed on track for the most part last week.  I switched out a couple menus.  We had the stuff to make a different dish without messing up too much, so things got changed.  No big deal though.

Sunday
B-Open
L- Tacos
D- Chinese Night w/ hm fried rice, eggrolls and wontons (those won't be homemade)

Monday
B-Open
L- leftovers
D- hm chicken nuggets and carrot fries

Tuesday
B-Open
L- chicken stroganoff
D-Pastitsio - Baked Pasta with Meat (for our Greek cuisine International Meal)

Wednesday
B-Open
L- Baked sweet potatoes
D- Fried potato casserole w/ green beans

Thursday
B-Open
L- Quesadillas and spanish rice
D- Spaghetti and breadsticks

Friday
B-Open
L- Hamburger Gravy w/ Potatoes
D- Take out - Pizza (Big game night)

Saturday
B-Open
L- Leftover pizza
D- Fried cod and homemade fries

Our breakfasts stay "Open".  Some mornings I make smoothies and others it's toast or cereal.  The kids never seem to agree, so we leave that open.  Although some days it's easy to make one meal and just serve it out as they wake up.

We have practice and scrimmage this week.  Plus Lydia gets to cheer with the Liberty Center Cheerleaders on Friday night at one of their BBall games.  So I am trying to think of ideas that will work.  To be honest, I feel in a rut with meal planning and this week was a struggle.

Menu Monday

You know even though I plan....I do feel like this picture some days.  I forget what time it is and bam...it's 5:00 before I know it.  So we did have some shifting, and snacky type dinners.

Here's what we'll be eating this week....and hopefully I won't have too many eye bulging days!!

Sunday
B- Cereal & fruit
L- Open - May eat out
D- Turkey dinner w/ stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes & green beans

Monday
B- pancakes
L- Snacky lunch - turkey, cheese, crackers, & grapes
D- Turkey hash (sweet potato hash with diced turkey)

Tuesday
B- Smoothies & toast
L- Cranberry turkey wraps
D- Turkey Rival soup.....I am attempting a gluten/egg free version of my great-grandma's yummy recipe)

Wednesday
B- Pumpkin muffins
L- BBQ Baked Chicken (or left over turkey) over baked potatoes
D- Potato soup

Thursday
B- Cereal and possibly yogurt
L- Fried rice
D- Enchiladas

Friday
B- Doughnuts & milk
L- Tuna Casserole
D- Spaghetti and meat sauce

Saturday
B- Hashbrowns and gravy
L- Leftover cleanout
D- Blue Cheese burgers and Sweet potato fries

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Menu Monday

We haven't been doing too bad trying to stay on task with our meal plans.  The nice thing is we only have eaten take out food once in the past couple weeks because I didn't take the time to pack a to-go meal to match our change of plans that day.  It was yesterday when we went to Costco, and we were heading home near lunch time.  And the kids were starving, or so they said.

So this is our plan for this week.....

Sunday
B- Pancakes
L- chicken n dumplings
D- Stuffed Peppers

Monday
B-Cereal and toast
L- Snacky Lunch (diced turkey, cheese, crackers & grapes)
D- Chicken Gravy and hashbrowns

Tuesday
B- Smoothies
L- Turkey salad wraps
D- Salmon Patties and rice

Wednesday
B- Muffins
L- Sloppy Joes and fries
D- Stewed chicken and coconut cake (recipes from Trinidad....it's our International Meal)

Thursday
B-Cereal and yogurt
L- Augratin potatoes
D- Chicken fajitas and green chili potatoes

Friday
B- doughnuts and Milk (working on this recipe)
L- Spaghetti and meatballs
D- Ground beef stew

Saturday
B- hashbrowns and gravy
L- Leftovers
D- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and candied carrots.

Hope everyone has a great week!!!

Menu Monday

Another week....and the 2nd full week of the month is horribly busy.  So here is the plan.  Doubling some meal sizes this week so we have leftovers for the next day.

Sunday
B- pancakes
L- chicken taco salad
D-swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes

Monday
B-Cereal
L- Chicken gravy & rice w/ green beans
D- DF mac and cheese w/ brocolli

Tuesday
B- Smoothies & Toast
L- Sloppy Joe w/ leftover mac & cheese
D- Augratin potatoes w/ salmon patties

Wednesday
B- Muffins (not sure flavor yet ... probably pumpkin)
L- Peanut butter and honey (jelly) & chips
D- chicken fajitas and hash-browns

Thursday
B- Cereal and Yogurt
L- leftovers & packed lunches
D- spaghetti and meatballs

Friday
B- GF Doughnuts (?)
L- chicken & Dumplings
D- Spanish Rice

Saturday
B- Hashbrowns w/
L-Lots of leftovers
D-Chicken wings w/ and french fries

Gluten/Wheat Free Chicken and Dressing

I love chicken and stuffing bake.  But here's my problem....I'm allergic to wheat/gluten.  So thought I would have to give up this yummy treat.  Well, as always, my brain started working in overdrive to rewrite this classic and make it gluten free.  So here is my version of Gluten Free Stove Top stuffing....oh yeah and it's healthy!!!

Ingredients:

About a pound of chicken tenderloins.  (I think I almost used 2 pounds)...extra is not a big deal.
4 whole organic carrots (more if you like carrots like I do)
1/2 pound of fresh beans (pre-strung)
8 slices of Ener-G brown rice or white rice bread
olive oil or coconut oil
2 tsp ground thyme
sea salt and pepper to taste

First I put my chicken tenderloins in a skillet and added water to cover.  Add a swirl around the pan of olive oil to this water.  1 tsp of ground thyme and a few pinches of sea salt.  Allow the chicken to simmer in the soon to be broth until it is cooked.

While this is cooking, chop up your carrots, green beans and cube your slices of Ener-G bread.  In a separate skillet start sauteeing these in 3 TBS of olive oil.  Remember this bread soaks up oil.  But it will crisp like a crouton and be super yummy.  Seems like a lot of oil, but you also need it there for the veggies.

 When the chicken is done, cut it into small pieces.  Strain the broth in the skillet of any "protein".    Add the chicken back to the broth.

Transfer the veggie/bread mix into the pan with the chicken.  Allow the bread to soak up all the broth.  Cover and cook for about 5 more minutes until all the broth has been absorbed and your bread is moist like "cooked" all day stuffing.  If it isn't, add just a touch of water and cover again.

My hubby is NOT a huge fan of gluten free bread, but he really enjoyed this.  Super simple and the flavors were awesome.

Warning though, be careful while sauteeing the bread.  I walked away and a few of my cubes got a little more toasty than I wanted.  It was still yummy, but not as pretty.

Menu Monday

So I haven't done this post for so long.  I kind of got out of the habit of menus and I shouldn't have.  They really do make life easier when you live a really busy life.

Sunday
D- Chili w/ sweet potato biscuits (which I forgot to make and it was so last minute..didn't get to)

Monday
B- Cereal and fruit
L- Baked potatoes w/ leftover chili or bacon bit, cheese and sour cream
D- chicken pot pie and carrots & peas

Tuesday
B-Smoothies
L-Pack lunches (field trip to Science center for class)
D-Beef stew (crockpot)

Wednesday
B-Pumpkin bake
L-Leftovers
D-Butternut squash curry w/ rice & salad

Thursday
B-Smoothies/cereal
L-Sloppy Joes and hashbrowns
D-Spanish rice

Friday
B-Fruit salad
L-leftover clean up
D-Chicken and stuffing

Saturday
B- Milk gravy and biscuits (might make chocolate gravy too...feeling southern right now)
L- Open (so will see what leftovers need used up)
D- Chicken Parmesan w/ noodles

All meals will be allergen friendly...meaning I won't use dairy/soy/eggs/gluten/wheat/peanuts/ etc.  I'll try and remember to share some recipes.  Hope everyone has a great week!!!